“We have 13 UB science and engineering PhD candidates working for about 20 hours a week and over 50 undergraduates in the schools providing wrap-around classroom and after-school support for implementation of hands-on science”

Joe Gardella, John and Frances Larkin Professor of Chemistry

University at Buffalo

Fifty-eight teachers from the Buffalo Public Schools have been
selected to take part in the Interdisciplinary Science and
Engineering Partnership (ISEP), a professional development program
that encourages hands-on laboratory and field work in science
classes.

The goal is to improve science learning by cultivating science
classrooms where students are not passive observers, but curious,
young investigators working on eye-opening projects.

Through ISEP, the teachers will immerse themselves in hands-on
science this summer by conducting interdisciplinary research with
local scientists or taking a teacher-preparation course emphasizing
hands-on instruction and student scientific discourse.

Then, the teachers will bring what they learned back into their
schools, engaging students in projects like building solar cells,
testing water quality and analyzing cancer-cell DNA using gel
electrophoresis. Partners including parents, corporate scientists
and UB graduate students will help with activities in class and
after school.

Joseph Gardella, John and Frances Larkin Professor of Chemistry
at UB who coordinates ISEP, says the program is unique
“because it not only provides professional development
opportunities, but gives teachers a support network they can rely
on to help carry out ideas.”

“We have 13 UB science and engineering PhD candidates
working for about 20 hours a week and over 50 undergraduates in the
schools providing wrap-around classroom and after-school support
for implementation of hands-on science,” Gardella says.

ISEP is led by UB, Buffalo Public Schools, Buffalo State College
and the Buffalo Museum of Science. The program, which was piloted
at three schools over the past few years, expanded to include a
total of 12 middle and high schools this year, thanks to a $9.8
million National Science Foundation grant.

This summer, 42 of the 58 ISEP teachers will conduct
interdisciplinary research with a UB science, technology,
engineering or mathematics (STEM) faculty member, or with a
scientist at Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Roswell
Park Cancer Institute or Praxair Inc.

The other 16 teachers, along with a few in the research group,
will take a course at Buffalo State College that engages them in
hands-on science and engineering, and introduces enticing ways of
presenting scientific information to K-12 classes.

“The ISEP program provides middle and high school science
teachers with an opportunity to collaborate and develop advanced
lessons focused on scientific skills and concepts,” says
Kelly Baudo, supervisor of science education for Buffalo Public
Schools. “These lessons, related to research topics and
classroom science themes, are first delivered in the middle school
science classes and then expanded upon at the high school level,
allowing students the opportunity for ongoing analysis and
investigation of scientific concepts. As the global economy looks
to 21st century STEM skills, our ISEP teachers also increase their
knowledge, which will, in turn, allow them to better prepare our
students for 21st century college and careers.”

Ideally, through ISEP, students come to understand science not
as sets of facts to memorize in individual subjects like biology or
physics, but as a creative endeavor geared toward solving
real-world problems bridging many disciplines.

Each school in the program is structuring science curricula
around exciting, interdisciplinary topics, from bioinformatics and
forensic science at East High School to physics and auto technology
at Burgard High School.

In a high-needs urban district where students score below state
averages in math and science, ISEP is yielding results at pilot
schools.

At Native American Magnet (School 19), dozens of eighth graders
have taken the ninth-grade-level New York State Regents living
environment course since 2008. Nearly all have passed the
associated exam.

Across town at the Math, Science and Technology Preparatory
School (MST Prep), ISEP teachers and partners helped guide the
design of state-of-the-art teaching laboratories as part of a major
campus renovation. New facilities at the school, which held its
grand reopening in May, include collegiate-style science labs and
an aquatic ecology lab with eight fish tanks, seven terrariums and
space for experiments.

Michelle Zimmerman, the lead ISEP teacher at the school, will be
using probeware to test for ion-selective electrodes in zebra fish
tanks at UB this summer. The experience will enable her to design a
class project that asks students to monitor ions in a classroom
tank and outdoor learning pond.

“I enjoy being involved with the ISEP program because it
affords me the opportunity to experience the challenges that
academia and employers face when receiving our students after high
school so that I can help bridge the gap and better prepare
students with the skill sets that they will need for the 21st
century job market,” Zimmerman said.